Restoring Lifeline On Mountains - How BRO Is Battling Odds To Reopen Mughal Road

It's an awe-inspiring display of powerful snow blowers clearing heavy snow on the Mughal road in Jammu and Kashmir. For weeks, the road lay cut off from the world. The machines are not just removing snow but restoring life and livelihood that remains buried under the mounds of snow and avalanches.

For locals, a snow clearance operation on the Mughal Road is unusual at this time of winter. Normally, these operations do not begin until March or April. However, since maintenance was handed over to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), residents are hopeful they may be able to travel and trade much earlier than usual.

From Shopian district in the north of Pirpajal and Bafliaz in Poonch in the south, it is just a three-hour drive via the Mughal Road. But as the road remains closed during winters, a few hours' travel turns into a two-day journey via Jammu.

While a large portion of the road has been cleared, it will likely take a few more weeks before traffic is fully restored and communities are reconnected. Dozens of workers are currently braving icy winds and freezing temperatures on high-altitude passes. "Normally, this road would reopen in May, but since the BRO took over, we hope to complete the task by the end of this month," said Abdul Majid, a BRO worker.

The night temperature in the area falls several degrees below freezing point as icicles dangle from cliffs and trees along the snow-bound road.  For workers like Haroon, the day starts at 7 am when everything outside is frozen. As they break for lunch, there is no place to go on the inhospitable, snowbound road. So, workers sit on the frozen snow and take their lunch. "It is a routine for us in such a situation. For us, the only way forward is to clear the snow and restore the road," said Haroon. 

The closure of the road has isolated communities and disrupted trade and essential services. Hirpora village, 12 km from Shopian, is the last motorable point. Here, police have put up barricades, and no civilian vehicle is allowed to move beyond this point. 

It may take just a few days for BRO to reach Peer Ki Gali, the highest point on Mughal Road at 11,450 feet, but it is still not possible to allow traffic until the frozen surface at several places on the road subsides.  While direct sunlight on the south slopes of the road is helping melt the snow faster, it feels like an ice rink on the north-facing slopes from Hirpora to Dubjan.

At some places, snow piles up much higher than snow cutter machines, making the task difficult. Machines have removed as much as 20 feet of snow walls, explaining the gigantic task of restoring the road that's usually forgotten for six months every year.